Movie review: "The Devil Wears Prada"
Jul. 12th, 2008 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serenissimaWe have a new weather pattern this month: humidity and precipitation. We're down from triple digit highs to temperatures in the 90°s and even, this past week at least, 80°s F, with overcast skies in the early morning and evening and occasional sprinkles. On Wednesday it rained throughout the day, and the temperature remained in the 70°s. That was refreshing. I guess July really is monsoon season. The thunderstorms were accompanied by power fluctuations, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aristeros' computer seems to have been fried. So we've been sharing one computer again for the past few days. He'd been meaning to get a new PC this year anyway; this just bumps up the schedule a bit.
I watched "The Devil Wears Prada" last week. For the most part, I found it entertaining. I enjoyed the imagery of New York. And I identified with the main character's initial fashion sense (or lack thereof) and her earnest desire to please and to succeed, although she is much more tolerant of her boss' demands than I would be; I'm not sure whether to attribute that to determination or to doormat-hood. I value my time after hours as time free from work. I've worked longer than my official shift plenty of times, and under extreme circumstances I've sometimes done work-related things after going home, but I would never take a job that required that of me every day.
One thing I found jarring was the manner in which the heroine finally decides to quit her job. She is accompanying her boss, but after the boss tries to give her sage advice which she finds troubling, she abruptly walks away and tosses the cell phone that has been her leash into a fountain. This drastic action is not in keeping with her courtesy, her thoughtful personality, and with the admiration she has developed for her boss throughout the movie -- especially the destruction of the cell phone. If she had simply gone for an unplanned walk and refused to answer her phone, I could have accepted that more easily.
Another development that's a little hard to believe, once I thought about it, is how the main character's job performance improves after she has a makeover. She fails to meet one of her boss' many unrealistic expectations, the boss makes a particularly cutting remark, and her solution is to ask a co-worker to help her revamp her style: wardrobe, hair cut, makeup. And things really do seem to go better for her at work after her transformation.
The movie reminded me how much emphasis our society places on clothing and on personal appearance in general... which led to remembering that I don't need any more clothes.
Next up from Netflix: "My Neighbor Totoro." I ♥ Miyazaki films.
- - -
Two things I forgot to mention:
1) I really like that the movie included a scene where the boss lady is not wearing makeup. There's quite a contrast between how she looks in that scene and how she looks in the rest of the movie. Her eyes look smaller without makeup. I guess it points out how much care she takes with her appearance most of the time.
2) I think women put more effort into looking good to impress other women than into looking good to impress men. I know I do. I expect women to look at me more critically than men do.
aristeros' computer seems to have been fried. So we've been sharing one computer again for the past few days. He'd been meaning to get a new PC this year anyway; this just bumps up the schedule a bit.I watched "The Devil Wears Prada" last week. For the most part, I found it entertaining. I enjoyed the imagery of New York. And I identified with the main character's initial fashion sense (or lack thereof) and her earnest desire to please and to succeed, although she is much more tolerant of her boss' demands than I would be; I'm not sure whether to attribute that to determination or to doormat-hood. I value my time after hours as time free from work. I've worked longer than my official shift plenty of times, and under extreme circumstances I've sometimes done work-related things after going home, but I would never take a job that required that of me every day.
One thing I found jarring was the manner in which the heroine finally decides to quit her job. She is accompanying her boss, but after the boss tries to give her sage advice which she finds troubling, she abruptly walks away and tosses the cell phone that has been her leash into a fountain. This drastic action is not in keeping with her courtesy, her thoughtful personality, and with the admiration she has developed for her boss throughout the movie -- especially the destruction of the cell phone. If she had simply gone for an unplanned walk and refused to answer her phone, I could have accepted that more easily.
Another development that's a little hard to believe, once I thought about it, is how the main character's job performance improves after she has a makeover. She fails to meet one of her boss' many unrealistic expectations, the boss makes a particularly cutting remark, and her solution is to ask a co-worker to help her revamp her style: wardrobe, hair cut, makeup. And things really do seem to go better for her at work after her transformation.
The movie reminded me how much emphasis our society places on clothing and on personal appearance in general... which led to remembering that I don't need any more clothes.
Next up from Netflix: "My Neighbor Totoro." I ♥ Miyazaki films.
- - -
Two things I forgot to mention:
1) I really like that the movie included a scene where the boss lady is not wearing makeup. There's quite a contrast between how she looks in that scene and how she looks in the rest of the movie. Her eyes look smaller without makeup. I guess it points out how much care she takes with her appearance most of the time.
2) I think women put more effort into looking good to impress other women than into looking good to impress men. I know I do. I expect women to look at me more critically than men do.
